The present invention relates to a new and improved construction of apparatus for outfeeding flat products, especially printed products, arriving in an imbricated product stream or array. The apparatus of the invention is of the type comprising a conveyor device, which in the conveying direction of the prodcuts, possesses tandemly arranged, individually controllable grippers for engaging or seizing the infed products at their leading edges.
In most instances, the imbricated product stream arrives in a formation where each product bears upon the preceding product, so that the rear edge of the product is covered by the trailing or subsequent product. Up to the present attempts were made to outfeed the imbricated product stream, by the conveyor device, also in the formation or array in which it arrived. With heretofore known equipment of such type, as exemplified by German Patent Publication No. 2,519,561 and the corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,667, the imbricated product stream is delivered, by means of a belt conveyor, to a transport device whose conveying direction essentially is the same as that of the belt conveyor. Since the edges of the printed products, which are to be engaged, are not freely exposed at the transfer region, the grippers must be inserted into the imbricated product stream, in order to seize the printed products. Additionally, an appreciable structural length is required in the conveying direction, since at the transfer region the transport device and the belt conveyor must be guided adjacent one another throughout a certain path or distance, in order to insure for a correct transfer of the printed products.